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Stephen Garcia is listed as the Gamecocks number one quarterback
USC released its post-spring depth chart Monday. The most notable aspect is Stephen Garcia’s name at the top of the quarterback depth chart. There is an asterisks next to his name, but it provides further evidence the team still expects the senior to return from his latest suspension.
Click below for the full offensive and defensive depth charts.
Stephen Garcia is willing to take the measures to return to USC
Based on the information that is out there along with what we are hearing from our sources, it is looking more and more likely that Stephen Garcia will be returning to the USC football team. While this is far from official, we have been told by a source close to Garcia that it is Garcia’s intention to rejoin the Gamecock team. It also appears USC will be receptive to Garcia’s wishes so long as he continues to demonstrate he is serious about working on his personal problems.
Garcia needs to pass a couple of classes this semester and then he will graduate in May. As Steve Spurrier noted on the SEC teleconference today, that would make him eligible to transfer to another school.
“With his degree in hand, obviously he’s eligible to play anywhere in the country,” Spurrier said.
Even with that option on the table Garcia’s actions indicate he’s working towards finishing his career in Columbia. Tuesday he worked out with receiver Tori Gurley and in a tweet Gurley praised Garcia’s performance in the workout.
Stephen Garcia's off field troubles continue
When Stephen Garcia returned from suspension number four a couple of weeks ago he assured everyone that he would not have any more issues.
“Just got to be smarter, that’s the bottom line,” Garcia said. “Last time I got in trouble was three or four years ago. It was a bad decision on my part down in Atlanta. Nothing bad is going to happen again. That’s a guarantee.”
That was March 24th. He didn’t even make it two weeks before he broke that promise.
Another transgression means another round of excuses for the 23 year-old senior. On this site Phil Kornblut went as far as to say Garcia is the victim here.
Give Garcia a break on this one. Without going into all the details, I am confident enough to write in this space that I think Garcia, in this case, is as much a victim of his past than of anything new he’s done.
This has been an ongoing theme throughout the Garcia era. Everyone it seems has an excuse for behavior that quite frankly is inexcusable. Running parallel to Garcia’s pattern of bad decisions is a pattern of people rushing to defend those poor choices. There has been zero accountability.
Stephen Garcia
USC quarterback Stephen Garcia met with the media Thursday following the Gamecocks workout. It is the first time he has talked to the media since he was suspended for the first week of spring practice for a violation of team rules.
AUDIO: Stephen Garcia interview
Garcia didn’t get into what exactly occurred that led to his suspension. He did confirm the violation occurred the week of the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta. He said he has moved past the issue and guaranteed he would not have any more issues between now and the end of the season.
Garica has been suspended three times during his five year Gamecock career.
Stephen Garcia is suspended for another alcohol related issue
Steve Spurrier didn’t want to talk about Stephen Garcia Tuesday. He quickly mentioned his senior quarterback had been suspended for a week and tried to move on. When he was pressed about the issue, he walked away. I cannot recall one time in Spurrier’s tenure at USC when he just walked away from an interview. Not one.
The bottom line is Spurrier does not want to talk about the alleged incident in Atlanta involving Stephen Garcia the week of the bowl game. He doesn’t want to explain why he waited until now to suspend him or why he didn’t send him home after the infraction. Or why he wasn’t he benched. Or why the guy who was told he was on a zero tolerance policy will be allowed back on the team after another violation.
We know the answer. Garcia gives the Gamecocks the best chance to win the SEC next season and Spurrier isn’t going to sacrifice what could be his final chance at a conference title by booting Garcia from the team.
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